As a JetBlue’s fan, I could not pass on the opportunities to fly its inaugural flight to Bozeman, Montana, from Long Beach, my home base. I was tempted to link it to its inaugural to Steamboat Springs on Saturday, but since I need to be back in HK for the holidays, I have to pass this time. JetBlue’s new seasonal flight to Bozeman Yellowston International Airport will operate every Thursdays and Sundays, and the flight will fly in both winter and summer season with a few months’ hiatus in the summer. The airline will reexamine the future of the flights after the summer operation. Being an armchair CEO, I have a feeling that the new Airbus A220 (former C Series 300) will be good for this market too, but not sure if JetBlue will station the A220 here in Long Beach though. Despite the seasonal nature of the flight. the JetBlue did not spare anything for the new Bozeman’s flight. There was a good party at Bozeman involving many local communities and Bozeman’s chamber of commerce. The load was a bit weak for this pair of inaugural flights but hopefully it will become better once the news about the flights spread. I am sure the upcoming ski season will attract many LA based passengers too. For those who don’t want to read the report, I have included the link to the full photo album.

I arrived at the airport about 100 minutes prior to departure and there was a short wait in the Mosaic line. I just wanted to get a “real” boarding pass for the inaugural flight, as well as the boarding pass for the return segment.

Promotion about the Bozeman flight

Despite the aircraft was parked at spot 9, the boarding took place from gate 10, which seems to be the designated inaugural flight gate at Long Beach. It is a bit more spacious than other gates. There was a nice continental breakfast buffet and they set up a podium for a few speeches by JetBlue’s and Long Beach Airport’s representative.

Boarding began at 10:19am, and Angie, the leading flight attendant, was greeting passengers. She immediately addressed my Mosaic status and greeted me after boarding was completed. She also moved me to a window seat with an empty middle seat. I was told that I was the only Mosaic passenger on this flight but getting a bit of recognition is always nice.

Cabin shot – I was surprised that they did not send out of the A320s with the latest cabin products and the space flex lavatories. JetBlue usually likes to show off their new cabin products on these inaugural flights. However, this A320s were well maintained. It did not fly to anywhere this morning, so it got a deep cleaning here.

Even More Space (non-exit row seat)

Captain

Angie

Door was closed at 10:40am and we pushed back at 10:43am. Angie first recognized the military and first respondent personnel flying today, as well as passengers celebrating birthday. She told a lame joke and get the passengers in festive mood.

Traffic was light this morning and we took off from R/W30 at 10:53am.

Over my neighborhood – Torrance and Rancho Palos Verdes

The routing took us over Torrance regional airport, Lomita, Rancho Palos Verdes, and then we made a turn back towards Long Beach Downtown, and then we reached our 35,000 feet, which was our cruising altitude. We flew towards Afton, Las Vegas McCarran Airport, Paradise, Motoqua, Beryl Junction, Delta, Salt Lake City, Bountiful, Logan, St. Anthony, and then turn left over Trident and straight towards R/W12 of Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport.

Flight Map – aka JetBlue Live TV edition

Cabin service was fairly typical with sales of buy on board products, including headsets, pillows, blankets, and snack boxes, and then the beverage cart made its appearance, and followed by the snack basket.

Angie also did her duty by promoting the JetBlue’s credit cards.

Over Utah

Then we had the traditional lucky draws that took place on JetBlue’s inaugural flights. They used to do trivia but now they just do seat lotto.

Gifts include mostly coupons to Bozeman’s restaurants including Naked Noodles, Santa Fe Reds, and City Brew Restaurant, along with hotel stays at the Lark hotel (two nights) and the Elements Hotel (two nights) with dinner at Squire House included. Of course, the highlight is the pair of free tickets to anywhere JetBlue flies to. But today’s special prize includes five cash prizes of $100, courtesy of Yellowstone Bank. This is a new one for me and I really could not recall cash prizes after flying so many inaugural flights with JetBlue.

Thank you, Yellowstone Bank!

Descent began at 1:40pm local time and we on the right side were treated to these spectacular sights of wintry scenes. Just amazing!

We landed on R/W12 at 2:18pm local time and our flying time was two hours and twenty-five minutes.

United flight 452 – Airbus A320 N434UA heading to Denver

We parked at Gate 2 at 2:22pm. [URL=http://s1213.photobucket.com/user/Carfield76/media/Winter%202018-19/JetBlue%20Bozeman%20Inaugural/IMG_3887.jpg.html][/URL

JetBlue’s check-in area – all the ways towards the end of the terminal – no surprising given its seasonal nature and twice weekly flight – but they installed two kiosks here

Great buffet

Speech time

Brian Sprenger, Bozeman Airport’s Director

Lieutenant Governor Mike Cooney

Spokeswoman for Senator John Tester

Spokeswoman for Senator Steve Daines

Daryl Schliem, Chamber of Commerce here in Montana

Erik Hildebrandt, JetBlue’s Regional Manager for Airports West – who flew back to Long Beach on the inaugural flight.

Ribbon cutting ceremony

After the ceremony, I headed to the gate. First, I was pleasantly surprised to see the TSA Pre’s lane but then I realized that the real “TSA Pre” lane was not opened. The airport was really under-staffed. Despite a full bank of flights at the 4-6pm block, only one lane was opened at 3:53pm. Thankfully we had plenty of times. Hopefully they opened more lanes later in the hour.

United Express CRJ-200 had just arrived from San Francisco.

JetBlue uses Gate 2 for its twice weekly flight to Long Beach.

More gift bags – JetBlue’s branded

Boarding began at 4:27pm with the usual pre-board and all those passengers were in row 1, and then I was one of the two Mosaic passengers on board this afternoon. For some reasons, boarding stopped after me.

So here are some more cabin shots:

Inflatable seat-belt

Exit row Even More Space Legroom

Power outlet at Even More Legroom row

Angie came all the way to my row to say hello again and checked and asked if I needed anything.

Gift Bag – basically the same gift bag except the use of a JetBlue bag and this additional JetBlue’s blanket

More caramels – delicious

Announcements by pilot

Door was closed at 4:53pm and the loading was understandably low. Mostly staffs were traveling back home and a few new JetBlue passengers too…

We pushed back at 4:56pm.

Frontier’s A319 next door N949FR

Heading to R/W12

We took off at 5:04pm for our two hours and two minutes flight.

Bozeman

Entering the mountain range again

The routing for the return flight was fairly similar. We passed Big Sky and Ashton before reaching 39,000ft, our initial cruising altitude. We headed toward Utah, Great Salt Lake, and Back Rock, and then descended towards 38,000ft. WE passed Ivins, Echo Bay, Boulder City, Primm, Mountain Pass, and Crucero, a ghost town in San Bernardina County. Then we passed Redlands, Moreno Valley, John Wayne Airport, Fountain Valley, and then turning straight towards R/W30 in Long Beach.

The service was similar to the flight earlier.

I bought a Party-Up Snack box.

Ginger Ale

The rest of the flight went by quickly, as there was a nice tail wind. A word about the reception of Live TV and Fly-Fi: The Fly-Fi worked well on both flights and given the light load, the speed was actually quite good – even faster than the WIFI at the Bernic Hotel at New York City. Many channels did not work on the last forty-five minutes of the flight on the flight to Bozeman and then first forty-five minutes of the flight back to Long Beach. Maybe the mountain ranges were disrupting the Live TV signals.

Descent began at 5:37pm LA local time and we landed on R/W30 at 6:06pm.

We parked at Spot #8 at 6:10pm.

Santa Claus and a Long Beach staff were handing out candy canes to arriving passengers. I think this might be a Christmas holiday matter, rather than celebrating our inaugural flight.

In conclusion, JetBlue threw another great inaugural party. Bozeman seems to be a growing market, which is perfect for the new Airbus 220-300s that JetBlue has ordered. I can even see nonstop flights to JFK and Boston. Airbus A320s might be a bit too big for now for year-round operation and/or daily operation. I wish JetBlue’s luck on this new Bozeman’s operation and hopefully it will become year-round soon with more flights to its east coast hubs. This will be a perfect market for its Airbus A220s, too.

This will be my last written report in 2018 and I look forward to write more in 2019, including TAP’s inaugural to San Francisco and Chicago O’Hare, and JAL’s inaugural (resumption) flight to Seattle. I hope you enjoy this trip report, along with many ones that I have written this year.